Keep Grant on the Grant

Replacing Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill with civil rights foe Ronald Reagan would be a travesty, writes Princeton historian Sean Wilentz

Matt Dorfman / NY Times

Sean Wilentz, The New York Times | Full Story | RONALD REAGAN deserves posterity’s honor, and so it makes sense that the capital’s airport and a major building there are named for him. But the proposal to substitute his image for that of Ulysses S. Grant on the $50 bill is a travesty that would dishonor the nation’s bedrock principles of union, freedom and equality — and damage its historical identity. Although slandered since his death, Grant, as general and as president, stood second only to Abraham Lincoln as the vindicator of those principles in the Civil War era. >>

Published 10.03.14 14:32:38 -0500 GMT | Posted by Andrew Garib on 10.03.14 | |